The son-in-law of Russian oligarch German Khan has been charged with making false statements to the FBI as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election.
Alex Van Der Zwaan was charged Feb. 16 in federal court in Washington related to a report he helped prepare on the trial of a Ukrainian politician, Yulia Tymoshenko. Van Der Zwaan was charged with a criminal information, which typically precedes a guilty plea.
Van Der Zwaan, identified on his LinkedIn page as an associate in the London office of Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom, was questioned regarding the firm’s work in 2012 on behalf of the Ukraine Ministry of Justice.
Van Der Zwaan is also married to Eva Khan, the daughter of Russian oligarch German Khan, who last year sued the media outlet BuzzFeed for libel for publishing the "Trump Dossier."
Van Der Zwaan allegedly lied to investigators about his last communications with Richard Gates, who was indicted in October with ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort over their consulting work in Ukraine.
The lawyer also allegedly lied about his talks with someone else, referred to by the government as "Person A.”
Van Der Zwaan deleted and failed to produce emails sought by the special counsel and a law firm, prosecutors said.
Calls to the lawyer and the law firm weren’t immediately returned.
The charges come four days after Mueller accused 13 Russians of a sophisticated disinformation campaign using a troll army that targeted the 2016 campaign and sought to sow discord in the U.S.
Includes reporting by Bloomberg.
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